1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to the field of game scoring devices and more particularly relates to an electronic dart game scorer. In a presently preferred embodiment, the electronic dart scorer includes a voice recognition system which receives a spoken dart score as the input to the scoring device in lieu of manually operated input switches, and also includes a voice synthesized game score output.
2. State of the Prior Art
The game of darts is a game of skill and competition which is played by throwing darts at a dart board divided by circles and radial lines into segments or beds numbered between one and twenty and arranged in a standard configuration. The game of darts actually includes several related games which are played by throwing darts at such a dart board. The games differ mainly in the arithmetics by which the scores obtained by successive throws of the darts are added or subtracted to achieve a winning score.
For example, in one series of popular games the game starts with a initial score which may be 301, 401, 501, 701, or 1001. Darts are thrown by each player in sets of three darts and a set score is obtained by adding the numbers of the board segments on which each of the three darts has landed. This set score is subtracted from the beginning score to obtain a first intermediate score. The opposing player then throws his first set of three darts and subtracts the resulting set score from his beginning score, which is of course the same as the first player's beginning score. Successive sets of darts are thrown by turns by the opposing players or teams according to established rules. The game ends when a player's last dart thrown and scoring is the double of the number equal to one-half of the remaining score. While many variations of the precise rules applicable to each of the games exists, the most popular dart games played at present may be divided generally into two classes. The first class is the aforementioned type of game wherein intermediate scores are substracted from a beginning score. A second class includes the game of cricket, which is somewhat more complex and also differs from the aforementioned group of games in that intermediate scores are added to obtain a cumulative end score.
The game of cricket, insofar as is relevant to this specification, requires the players to score three dart landings in each of the dart board beds numbered 15 through 20. Three landings in each of these particular beds must be scored. In addition, if one player scores more than three landings in a particular numbered bed and the opponent has not yet scored three landings in the same numbered bed, the extra landing for the one player is recorded as a cumulative numerical point score separate from the necessary three landings in that bed. Thus, a cumulative point score is kept for each of the players in addition to the scoring of three of each of the numbers between 15 and 20. The winner of the game is the player who first lands three darts in each of the beds between 15 and 20, and who has the highest point score. In the game of cricket, the beginning score is zero, and successive score points are added to keep an increasing running total of the point scores for each of the players.
Historically, dart game scores were kept by "chalking" i.e., writing in chalk on a scoreboard in numerals sufficiently large to be visible to the players and audience. Such scorekeeping suffered from two shortcomings: the legibility of the scores hinged on the quality of the handwriting of the particular scorekeeper, and was also subject to arithmetical errors since the calculations were usually carried out in the scorekeeper's mind.
As a result, various attempts have been made to construct mechanical or electrical scorekeeping devices which would standardize the size and legibility of the score numbers as well as to minimize the likelihood of arithmetical error during the scorekeeping process. Various such scorekeeping devices are known to exist, including purely mechanical devices as well as electronic devices which are based on digital electronic circuits which carry out the arithmetical operations and display the resulting scores by means of alphanumeric displays of various types including L.E.D. or L.C.D. readouts, as well as video screen displays. Some of the existing scorekeeping devices also are capable of displaying several of the latest successive intermediate scores for each of the players or teams.
While the scorekeeping devices of the prior art are adequate for keeping score of a closely related group of dart games, i.e., the first class of games referred to above which differ only in the beginning score but in which all individual throw scores are subtracted from the beginning score, no existing devices make provision for scorekeeping of games such as cricket which differ significantly from the other games.
Existing score keeping devices of the type described above suffer from a source of potential error in scorekeeping associated with the erroneous actuation of numerical data input keys or switches. Up to the present, no means has been found for removing this source of error which is particularly frequent where a game such as darts is played typically in pubs and similar establishments where the consumption of alcoholic beverages is virtually a normal part of the game. It is also desirable to provide an output device as a substitute for the illuminated numeric displays normally used in such scorekeeping devices. This is because the score output must be clearly visible and legible to players who may be 20 or more feet away from the scorekeeping device and the score display panel. To insure clear legibility normally requires the use of relatively large and therefore costly and bulky display panels. In addition, such panels must be placed at locations where other players or patrons of the establishment will not stand so as to interfere with the clear viewing of the score display by the game players.